BREAKTHROUGH

Rev. Paul T. Stallsworth

On October 28th of last year, the United Methodist clergy of the North Carolina Conference gathered at St. Mark’s Church in Raleigh. We assembled in the sanctuary for a Bishop’s Day Apart, which is a time for worship and teaching.

As with most such gatherings, this Day Apart began with worship. Then Bishop Marion M. Edwards mounted the pulpit. For the next hour or so, he did something this pastor had not before experienced in some twenty-five years of ordained ministry. Our bishop taught. That is, he did not make conference-related announcements. He did not offer administrative musings. He did not share inspirational notes. Instead, Bp. Edwards taught. He taught the faith of the Church catholic. Why did this happen?

For months prior to that October morning, there had been a low-grade rumble throughout The United Methodist Church. The rumbling had been created by a theological lecture delivered by Bishop Joseph C. Sprague, of United Methodism’s Chicago Area. In his lecture at Iliff School of Theology, Bp. Sprague had attempted to describe the Christian faith in modernistic terms that would be understood and accepted by today’s so-called “intellectuals.” Though evangelistically motivated, the bishop’s lecture seemed to undermine Church doctrine related to Jesus Christ. The virgin birth, the resurrection, and the nature of Jesus Christ were explained to the point of being explained away. Again, Bp. Sprague’s intentions were evangelistic and good; however, his lecture seemed to erode the faith he intended to advance.

Posted on the Internet, Bp. Sprague’s speech stirred some understandable controversy. Finally, in the fall of 2002, Bishop Timothy W. Whitaker, of the Florida Area, delivered a very careful rebuttal of the lecture by the Chicago bishop. Then, on October 28th, at the Bishop’s Day Apart in Raleigh, Bishop Edwards stood and delivered his refutation of Bp. Sprague’s case.

It was an event to remember. Our bishop, who is charged “[t]o guard, transmit, teach, and proclaim, corporately and individually, the apostolic faith as it is expressed in Scripture and tradition, and as . . . led and endowed by the Spirit, to interpret that faith evangelically and prophetically” (The Book of Discipline, 2000, Paragraph 414.3), did exactly that. With a loving heart and with obvious personal respect for Bp. Sprague, Bp. Edwards laid out his response to the Chicago bishop’s earlier lecture. Persuasively and winsomely, our bishop guarded, transmitted, taught, and proclaimed the faith of the Church. And he did so with theological depth, precision, and sophistication. This was not an over-heated, theological tirade by a fundamentalist bully.

As Bp. Edwards began to speak, the sanctuary fell eerily silent. The hundreds of assembled North Carolina clergy listened intently. We knew in our hearts and minds that something unusual, something memorable, even something monumental, was happening. A friend, who is usually very critical of such events, passed a note which read, “The bishop is at his absolute best today. Thanks be to God.”

At the conclusion of our bishop’s presentation, there was loud and long applause. At first I was touched by disappointment that a standing ovation had not followed. However, on second thought, that would have been inappropriate. For appreciative applause by all, in response to a powerful defense of the faith, kept the body unified. After all, this was not a political rally. This was an occasion for a bishop to be truly a bishop.

At the end of this Bishop’s Day Apart, there was a certain joy in the air. In a very loving and powerful way, our bishop, doing what he was consecrated and is charged to do, had defended the faith. The air had been cleared of some well-intended, but finally false, theological claims. All present were reminded that Christians do not have to make a choice between faith and reason, between faith and intelligence. And the clergy had been unified by a strong confession of the Church’s faith.

This one presentation by Bp. Edwards will not end the doctrinal problems within The United Methodist Church. Continual teaching -- by our bishop, other bishops, clergy, and laity -- will be necessary and helpful. But it is a start. Perhaps even a breakthrough.

From January 2003 St. Peter’s Post